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The State of Kuwait ( , dawlat al-kuwayt)
is a sovereign Arabemirate situated in the northeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south and Iraq to the north
and lies on the northwestern shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is a diminutive of an Arabic word meaning "fortress
built near water." The emirate covers an area of 18,098 square
kilometres (6,880 sq mi) and has a population of about 2.9
million.

The Bani Utbah tribe were the first
settlers in the region and laid the foundation of the emirate. By
19th century, Kuwait came under the influence of the Ottoman Empire and after the World War I, it emerged as an independent
sheikhdom under the protection of the British Empire. Kuwait's large oil fields
were discovered in the late 1930s. After it gained independence from the
United
Kingdom in 1961, the nation's oil industry saw
unprecedented growth. In 1990, Kuwait was invaded and annexed by neighboring Iraq.
The seven
month-long Iraqi occupation came to an end after a direct military intervention by United States-led forces. Nearly 750 Kuwaiti oil wells were set ablaze by the
retreating Iraqi army resulting in a major environmental and
economic catastrophe. Kuwait's infrastructure was badly damaged
during the war and had to be rebuilt.

History

In the 4th
century BC, the ancient
Macedonians colonized an island on Kuwait's coast, now known as
Failaka, and named it "Ikaros". Earliest recorded
history of the State of Kuwait goes back to the year 1613. Tribes from central Arabia
settled in Kuwait in the 17th-century after experiencing a massive
drought in their native land. Kuwait would later emerge as a major center
for the spice trade between India and Europe. By late 18th-century, most of the
local people made a living selling pearls.

In 1756, the people elected Sabah I
bin Jaber as the first emir of
Kuwait. The current ruling family of Kuwait, al-Sabah, are descendants of Sabah I.
During the rule of the Al-Sabah, Kuwait progressively became a
center of trade and commerce. It now served as a hub of trade
between India, the horn of Africa,
the Nejd, Mesopotamia and the Levant. Up until the advent of Japanese pearl farming, Kuwait had one of the largest
sea fleets in the Persian Gulf region and a flourishing pearling
industry. Trade consisted mainly of pearls, wood, spices, dates and
horses.

Oil was first discovered in Kuwait in the 1930s and the government
became more proactive in establishing internationally recognized
boundaries. After World War I, the
Ottoman Empire was financially crippled and the invading British Indian Army invalidated the
Anglo-Ottoman Convention, declaring Kuwait to be an "independent
sheikdom under British protectorate".

On 19 June 1961, Kuwait became fully independent following an
exchange of notes between the United Kingdom and the then emir of
Kuwait, Abdullah Al-Salim
Al-Sabah. The Gulf rupee,
issued by the Reserve Bank of India, was replaced by the Kuwaiti dinar. The discovery of large
oil fields, such as the Burgan field, triggered a large influx of
foreign investments into Kuwait. The massive growth of the petroleum
industry transformed Kuwait into one of the richest countries in
the Arabian Peninsula and by 1952,
the country became the largest exporter of oil in the Persian Gulf region.This massive growth attracted many foreign
workers, especially from Egypt and India.

Kuwait settled its boundary disputes with Saudi Arabia and agreed
on sharing equally the neutral zone's petroleum reserves, onshore
and offshore. After a brief stand-off over boundary issues, Iraq
formally recognized Kuwait's independence and its borders in
October 1963. During the 1970s, the Kuwaiti government nationalized
the Kuwait Oil Company, ending
its partnership with Gulf Oil and British Petroleum.

Kuwait had heavily funded Iraq's eight year-long war with Iran. After the war ended,
Kuwait declined an Iraqi request to forgive its US$65 billion debt.
An economic warfare between the two countries followed after Kuwait
increased its oil production by 40 percent. Tensions between the
two countries increased further after Iraq alleged that Kuwait was
slant drilling oil from its share of
the Rumaila
field.

On 2 August, 1990 Iraqi forces invaded and annexed Kuwait. Saddam Hussein, then President of Iraq,
deposed the emir of Kuwait, Jaber Al-Sabah, and
installed Ali Hassan al-Majid as
the new governor of Kuwait. After a series of failed diplomatic
negotiations, the United
States-led coalition of thirty-four nations fought the
Persian Gulf War to remove the
Iraqi forces from Kuwait. On February 26, 1991, the
coalition succeeded in driving out the Iraqi forces, restoring the
Kuwaiti emir to power. Kuwait paid the coalition forces US$17
billion for their war efforts.

During their retreat, the Iraqi armed forces carried out a scorched earth policy by damaging 737
oil wells in Kuwait, of which
approximately 600 were set on
fire. It was estimated that by the time Kuwait was liberated
from Iraqi occupation, about 5 to of oil was being burned in a
single day because of these fires. Oil and soot accumulation had
affected the entire Persian Gulf region and large oil lakes were
created holding approximately 25 to of oil and covering 5% of
Kuwait's land area. In total, about of oil was released into the
Persian Gulf and an additional 2% of Kuwait's of crude oil reserves
were burned by the time the oil fires were brought under control.
The fires took more than nine months to extinguish fully and it
took Kuwait more than 2 years and US$50 billion in infrastructure
reconstruction to reach pre-invasion oil output. Kuwait has since
largely recovered from the socio-economic, environmental, and
public health effects of the Persian Gulf War.

Politics

Kuwait is a constitutional
monarchy and has the oldest directly elected parliament among
the Arab states of the
Persian Gulf. The head of state is the Emir or Sheikh, a hereditary office. A
council of ministers, also
known as cabinet ministers, aids the Prime Minister in his task as
the head of Government of
Kuwait which must contain at least one elected member of the
Kuwaiti parliament, known as Majlis
Al-Umma (National Assembly). The National Assembly has the
power to dismiss the Prime Minister or any member of cabinet
through a series of constitutional procedures. All cabinet
ministers are answerable to the National Assembly.

The National Assembly consists of fifty elected members, who are
chosen in elections held every four years. Government ministers are
also granted membership in the parliament and can number up to
sixteen excluding the fifty elected members. According to the
Constitution of Kuwait,
nomination of a new Emir or Crown Prince by the ruling Al-Sabah
family has to be approved by the National Assembly. If the nominee
does not win the votes of the majority of the assembly, the royal
family must submit the names of three other candidates to the
National Assembly, and the Assembly must approve one of them to
hold the post. Any amendment to the constitution can be proposed by
the Emir but it needs to be approved by more than two-thirds of the
members of the National Assembly before being implemented.

There have been several conflicts between the Emir, the government
and the National Assembly over various policies. The National
Assembly was suspended from 1976 to 1981, from 1986 to 1991 and
from May 1999 to July 1999 due to irresolvable conflicts between
some members of the government and the Assembly. The Assembly was
dissolved again in May 2009 by the Emir leading to the resignation
of Prime Minister Sheik Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah and the
rest of the Cabinet. Nationwide elections
were held on May 16, 2009.

More than two-thirds of those who reside in Kuwait do not hold
Kuwaiti citizenship and thus cannot vote in parliamentary
elections. Additionally, prior to 2005, only 15% of the Kuwaiti
citizen population was allowed to vote, with all "recently
naturalized" citizens (i.e. those of less than thirty years'
citizenship), and members of the Kuwaiti Armed Forces excluded. On 16
May 2005, Parliament permitted women's
suffrage by a 35-23 vote.

The decision raised Kuwait's eligible voter population from 139,000
to about 339,000. In 2006, Kuwaiti citizens were estimated to be
more than 960,000. In 2005, the former Prime Minister Sheikh
Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah
announced the appointment of the first women as a cabinet minister,
Massouma Mubarak. She was
designated the post of Planning Minister and Minister of State for
Administrative Development Affairs. During the 2008 parliamentary
elections, 27 of the 275 candidates were women. However, none
of them won. In the parliamentary elections on 16 May 2009, 16
female candidates contested for 50 seats for a four-year term. Four
female candidates won their seats and became Kuwait's first female
lawmakers.

Geography and climate

Located in the north-east corner of the Arabian Peninsula, Kuwait
is one of the smallest countries in the world in terms of land
area. The flat, sandy Arabian Desert
covers most of Kuwait. There is little difference in the country's
altitude with the highest point in the country being 306 m above
sea-level. It has nine islands, all of which with
the exception of Failaka
Island are uninhabited.With an area of
860 km², the Bubiyan is the largest island in Kuwait and is connected to
the rest of the country by a 2,380 m long bridge. The land
area is considered arable and sparse vegetation is found along its
499 km long coastline. Kuwait City is located on Kuwait Bay, a
natural deep-water harbor.

Kuwait has some of the world's richest oil
fields with the Burgan field having
a total capacity of approximately of proven oil reserves. During
the 1991 Kuwaiti oil fires, more
than 500 oil lakes were created covering a combined surface area of
about 35.7 km². The resulting soil contamination due to oil
and soot accumulation had made eastern and south-eastern parts of
Kuwait uninhabitable. Sand and oil residue had reduced large parts
of the Kuwaiti desert to semi-asphalt surfaces. The oil spills
during the Persian Gulf War also
drastically affected Kuwait's marine resources.

Kuwait has a hyper-arid continental climate. Summer, which lasts
from May to September, is extremely hot and dry with temperatures
easily crossing 45 °C (113 °F) during daytime, with temperatures
usually around 52 °C at midday. Kuwait has a fairly high day-night
temperature range. Winter, from November through February, is cool
with some precipitation and average temperatures around 13 °C (56
°F) with extremes from -2 °C to 27 °C. Annual rainfall averages
less than 127 mm (5 in.) and occurs chiefly between October
and April.

The spring season in March is warm and pleasant with occasional
thunderstorms. The frequent winds from the northwest are cool in
winter and spring and hot in summer. Southeasterly winds, usually
hot and damp, spring up between July and October; hot and dry south
winds prevail in spring and early summer. The shamal, a
northwesterly wind common during June and July, causes dramatic
sandstorms.

Climate

Governorates

The major
cities are the capital Kuwait City and Jahrah (a thirty-minute
drive northwest of Kuwait City).The main residential
and commercial areas are Salmiya and Hawalli.The main industrial area is Shuwaikh within the Al Asimah
Governorate. The main palace is the As-Seef Palace in
the old part of Kuwait City where the Emir runs the daily matters
of the country whilst the government headquarters are in the Bayan
Palace and the Emir lives in Dar Salwa.

According to the 2008 Index of
Economic Freedom, Kuwait has the second-most free economy in
the Middle East. In March 2007, Kuwait's
foreign exchange reserves stood at US$213 billion. The Kuwait Stock Exchange, which has about
200 firms listed, is the second-largest stock exchange in the Arab world with a total
market capitalization of US$235 billion. In 2007, the Kuwaiti
government posted a budget surplus of US$43 billion.

Kuwait has a proven crude oil reserves
of 104 billion barrels (15 km³), estimated to be 10% of the
world's reserves. According to the Kuwaiti constitution, all
natural resources in the country and associated revenues are
government property. Being a tax-free country,
Kuwait's oil industry
accounts for 80% of government revenue. Petroleum and petrochemicals accounts for nearly half of
GDP and 95% of export
revenues. Increase in oil
prices since 2003 resulted in a surge in Kuwait's
economy.

Kuwait's current oil production of 2.8 million bpd is expected to
increase to 4 million bpd by 2020. To realize this production
target, Kuwait Petroleum
Corporation plans to spend US$51 billion between 2007 to 2012
to upgrade and expand the country's existing refineries. However,
the country's economy was badly affected by the global financial crisis of
2008. In 2009, the Central
Bank of Kuwait devised a US$5.15 billion stimulus package to
help boost the economy.

Kuwait's climate limits agricultural
development. Consequently, with the exception of fish, it depends almost wholly on food imports. About
75% of potable water must be distilled
or imported. The government is keen on decreasing Kuwait's
dependence on oil to fuel its economy by transforming it into a
regional trading and tourism hub. The planned US$77 billion City of
Silk is the largest real estate development project
in the Middle East. The Central Bank issues Kuwait’s
currency, the Kuwaiti dinar. In
December 2007, the dinar is the highest-valued currency unit in
the world.

In 2007, estimated exports stood at US$59.97 billion and imports
were around US$17.74 billion. Petroleum,
petrochemical products, fertilizers and financial services are major
export commodities. Kuwait imports a wide range of products ranging
from food products and textiles to machinery. Kuwait's most
important trading partners are Japan, United
States, India, South Korea, Singapore, China, European Union and
Saudi Arabia. Japan is the largest customer of Kuwaiti oil
followed by India, Singapore and South Korea.

Demographics

Shoppers at "The Avenues", a local
mall.

As of 2007, Kuwait's population was estimated to be 3 to 3.5
million people which included approximately 2 million
non-nationals. Kuwaiti citizens are therefore a minority of those
who reside in Kuwait. The government rarely grants citizenship to
foreigners to maintain status quo.

About 57% of the Kuwaiti population is Arab,
39% Asian, and 4% are classified
Bidoon. Bidoons are a group of stateless Arab
residents of Kuwait. In 2008, 68.4% of the population consisted of
expatriates most of whom are from other
Arab nations and South Asia. In 2009,
more than 580,000 Indian
nationals lived in Kuwait, making them the single largest
expatriate community there.

In 2003, there were also an estimated 260,000 Egyptians, 100,000
Syrians and 80,000 Iranians in Kuwait. After Kuwait was liberated
from Iraqi occupation, most of the 400,000 Palestinians living in
Kuwait were expelled because of their
government's open support for the Iraqi forces. Only a few thousand
Palestinians remain in Kuwait. The population of ethnic Armenians in Kuwait also shrank
drastically following the events of the Iraq-Kuwait war.

Majority of Kuwait's population identify themselves as Muslims. Estimates of the percentage of people in
Kuwait who practice Islam vary between 85% and 95%. Despite Islam
being the state religion, Kuwait has
large a community of Christians (est.
300,000 to 400,000), Hindus (est. 300,000),
Buddhists (est. 100,000), and Sikhs (est. 10,000). Hindus account for the largest
number of expatriates in Kuwait. Members of religious groups not
sanctioned in the Quran, such as Hindus, Sikhs
and Buddhists, are not allowed to build places of worship or other
religious facilities. However, these groups are allowed to worship
privately in their homes and can engage in religious activities,
including public marriage and other celebrations, without
government interference.

Culture

Kuwait Towers, one of the country's
most famous landmarks.

The influence of Islamic and Arab
culture on its architecture, music, attire, cuisine and
lifestyle is prominent as well. The most distinctive characteristic
of local Kuwaiti culture are the dewaniya's, a large reception room used for social
gatherings attended mostly by close family members. While, unlike
neighboring Saudi Arabia, the Islamic
dress code is not compulsory, many of the older Kuwaiti men
prefer wearing dish dasha, an
ankle-length white shirt woven from wool or cotton while the
minority of women wear abaya, black over-garment covering
most parts of the body. This attire is particularly well-suited for
Kuwait's hot and dry climate. Western-style clothing is also fairly
popular, especially among Kuwait's youth.

Seafood has been the mainstay of the Kuwaiti
diet for centuries. The Arabs in the Persian Gulf region played a
crucial role in the spice trade between India and Europe and spices
have remained an important ingredient of Kuwaiti cuisine.
Traditional Kuwaiti cuisine includes Machboos or
Kabsa which borrows heavily from
South Asian cuisine. As in other
Persian Gulf states, Kuwait takes part in the tradition of Qarqe'an during the month of Ramadan.

Before the discovery of oil, pearling
formed a crucial part of Kuwait's economy. Pearl fishery, known as
ghaus, suffered decline after the advent of Japanese pearl
farming. However, Kuwait's pearl industry laid the foundation of
its rich maritime history. Dhows,
large wooden ships made from teak wood
imported from India, became an indistinct part of Kuwait's maritime
fleet and dhow building is still practiced in this Persian Gulf
state.

Transportation

A highway in Kuwait City.

Kuwait has an extensive, modern and well-maintained network of
highways. Roadways extended 5,749 km,
of which 4,887 km is paved. In 2000, there were some 552,400
passenger cars, and 167,800 commercial taxis, trucks, and buses in
use. Since there is no railway system in the country, most of the
people travel by automobiles. The government plans to construct
US$11 billion rail network which will include a city metro for its
capital. Bus services are provided by City Bus and state-owned
Kuwait Public Transportation Corporation.

There is
only one civil airport in Kuwait.Kuwait
International Airport serves as the principal hub for international air
travel. State-owned Kuwait
Airways is the largest airline in the country. In 2001, the
airline carried 2,084,600 passengers on domestic and international
flights. In 2004, the first private airline of Kuwait, Jazeera Airways, was launched. In 2005, the
second private airline, Wataniya
Airways of Kuwait was founded.

Kuwait has one of the largest shipping industries in the Persian
Gulf region. The Kuwait Ports Public Authority manages and operates
ports across Kuwait. The country’s principal commercial seaports
are Shuwaikh and Shuaiba which handled combined cargo of 753,334
TEU in 2006. Mina Al-Ahmadi, the largest port in the country,
handles most of Kuwait's oil exports. Construction of
another major port located in Bubiyan island started in 2005. The port is expected
to handle 1.3 million TEU when operation starts in 2008.

Media

Kuwait has one of the most vocal and transparent media in the Arab World. In
2007, Kuwait was ranked first in the Middle East and the Arab
League in the freedom of press
index. Though the government funds several leading newspapers and
satellite channels, Kuwaiti journalists enjoy greater freedom than
their regional counterparts. State-owned Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)
is the largest media house in the country. The Ministry of
Information regulates all media and communication industry in
Kuwait.

In 1998, there were 15 media stations, which are 6 AM and 11 FM
radio stations and 13 television stations. In 2000, there were 624
radios and 486 television sets for every 1,000 people. In 2001,
there were 165,000 Internet subscribers served by three service
providers. Kuwait - MediaKuwait has ten satellite television channels of which
four are controlled by the Ministry of Information. State-owned
Kuwait Television (KTV) offered first colored broadcast in 1974 and
operates five television channels. Government-funded Radio Kuwait
also offers daily informative programming in four foreign languages
including Persian, Urdu, Tagalog and English on the AM and
SW.

In 2009, Kuwait had seventeen newspapers companies in circulation.
In 2002, the Arab Times was the
most popular English daily, followed by the Kuwait Times. Al-Anabaa, with a
circulation of 106,800 copies, was the most widely read Arabic
daily. Currently, there are around 15 Arabic daily newspapers
besides the English newspapers. A press law forbids insulting
references to God and Islamic
prophetMuhammad. Another law which
made leading newspaper publishers eligible for hefty fines for
criticizing the ruling family was lifted in 1992. Leading
newspapers continue to impose self-restraint while being critical
of the emir. However, no such restraint is observed while
criticizing the government.